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Umezawa Masahiko
Umezawa Masahiko (梅沢 正彦) is a professional assistant manga artist and Makunouchi Ippo's best friend outside of the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. About Umezawa was originally the leader of Ippo's bullies at high school, but later became a fan of his after he became a pro boxer. During high school he would wear his hair in a pompadour style, a trademark of many Japanese delinquents. By the time they had graduated, Umezawa's relationship with Ippo changed from fan to friends, although he was not ready to admit this at the time. During high school he was protrayed as mean and unwilling to admit that he viewed Ippo as a friend, but after graduation he grew out of his delinquent ways and was portrayed as friendly and a bit more comical. During high school and up through his years with Makunouchi Fishing Boat, he attended most of Ippo's matches, often wearing a handmade support headband and acting as Ippo's main cheer leader. After he retired from Makunouchi Fishing Boat to become a manga artist, Itagaki Manabu took over his job. It is unknown whether he has attended any of Ippo's matches since he left. In some ways, Umezawa can be viewed as Morikawa Jouji's avatar character. Nicknames, etc History In high school, Umezawa would always bully Ippo for any reason he could think of (even smelling like bait). One day he and his gang were beating on Ippo underneath a bridge when Takamura Mamoru came along and scared them away by dodging their punches and stealing the buttons off of their school uniforms. He is not seen for awhile after this, although in the anime version he makes numerous cameos trying to bully Ippo, who manages to escape unharmed each time. After learning of Ippo's becoming a pro boxer and then witnessing his second match (against Fujiwara Yoshio), Umezawa makes numerous attempts to apologize for bullying him, but instead "forces" Ippo to let him and his gang be his fans. He and his gang attend many of Ippo's matches, including his first match against Sendou Takeshi in Osaka, where they are greatly outnumbered by the home crowd cheers. On graduation day, Umezawa forces Ippo to take pictures with the gang and several other students. On the way home they come across the bridge from before. Umezawa tries again to apologise to Ippo, but before he can Ippo innocently assumes he is trying to ask when the next match will be. Umezawa realizes that Ippo views him as a friend now and decides to let the past go. He finds employement as a salaryman, but soon quits his job in order to help out the Makunouchi Fishing Boat. At the time, Ippo's mother was hospitilized, leaving only Ippo to take care of things and ultimately forcing him into an early retirement. Umezawa arrives during a typhoon to show Ippo that he dreams of writing a manga about him (Ippo), and that he won't be able to if Ippo retires so soon, so he helps Ippo out so he can continue boxing. After the first day he almost reluctantly quits on Ippo, but after seeing Ippo practicing his jabs he decides to tough it out for his friend. He would later be thanked personally by Coach Kamogawa for this. Throughout the following years Umezawa would become more and more supportive of Ippo. He helped Ippo's mother design his boxing shorts, once brought their old teacher and classmates to a match, and even became involved with the production of Kamogawa Boxing Gym goods. Sometime before Ippo's fight against Sawamura Ryuuhei, Umezawa wrote a one-shot manga about his experiences on the fishing boat to submit to a publisher. After letting Ippo read it (and after redoing a few pages that were accidentally torn up by Takamura and Aoki), he decided to retire from Makunouchi Fishing Boat in order to pursue his dream. During his farewell party, he tried to confess to Ippo's mother that he was the one who gave Ippo all those bruises during high school but was unable to finish. Ippo's mother figured it out, though, and told him to always hold his head up high when entering a new world. Earlier in the day, he had asked Ippo what he should tell people when asked how they know each other, but left before he could get an answer. However, Ippo uses the fishing boat to chase after him and inform him that they know each other as "classmates, acquaintances, co-workers... but most importantly best friends", resulting in a tearful yet joyful goodbye. Not long before Itagaki's Rookie King match against Imai Kyousuke, Ippo and Itagaki learned that Umezawa had gotten a job as an assistant to a professional manga artist and decided to pay him a visit. It was revealed that his one-shot debut manga, Ma Ippo Get You!, had won the Rookie Manga Award to which Itagaki compares it to like winning the Rookie King Tournament, saying that Umezawa was already a step ahead of him. Umezawa currently lives in a one-room apartment and has grown his hair out longer and has a small mustache. However, he still cheers on Ippo and even attended Itagaki's Rookie King match. Since then, Umezawa has cleaned up his appearance, retaining a minor goatee and trimming his hair. He's been working as an assistant to the artist who does the weekly comic "The Town You're In," a Slice of Life romantic comedy made for kids, spin-off of "A Town Where You Live". Umezawa still keeps up with Boxing Fan and was upset about Ippo being mocked by Kojima, his most recent opponent. Quotes *''"He's strong."'' - Episode 12, Umezawa changes his opinion after seeing Ippo box for the first time Category:Male characters Category:Characters from Japan Category:Non Boxers Category:Makunouchi Fishing Boat Category:Characters from Tokyo Category:Characters